Argies dance on our graves

ARGENTINA sparked outrage last night after running a TV advert showing an
Argie Olympian doing step-ups on a British war memorial to our fallen heroes
in the Falklands.

The deliberately provocative ad says hockey player Fernando Zylberberg, who
will compete at London 2012, is training “on Argentine soil”.

It was released by President Cristina Kirchner’s government.

Falklands War survivor Simon Weston called it an “insult”.

In the film Zylberberg is also shown working out at Port Stanley’s Globe
Tavern.

He runs past the office of Falklands newspaper Penguin News and a red
telephone box.

And to rub salt in the wound, he does step-ups on the islands’ Great War
Memorial honouring British sailors who died battling the German fleet in
1914.

The 90-second ad ends with the slogan: “To compete on English soil, we are
training on Argentine soil.”

It was screened on Argentine TV stations on Wednesday night — the 30th
anniversary of the sinking of Argie warship General Belgrano during the
Falklands conflict.

Today is the anniversary of the devastating Argentine Exocet missile attack on
HMS Sheffield.

The ad, filmed WITHOUT permission of island authorities, triggered
outrage in Britain last night.

Falklands War survivor Simon Weston, who paid his respects at the memorial
during a visit in March, called the film “tawdry and cowardly”.

Derek Cole, head of the Falklands Veterans Foundation, said: “It is
disgraceful. The athlete is on a war memorial. They are dancing on our
servicemen’s graves.”

MP Andrew Rosindell, secretary of the Falkland Islands Parliamentary Group,
said: “It’s offensive to islanders and to those who lost their lives. We
should make a complaint to the Olympic authorities and Kirchner. But she
isn’t the sort of person who will listen.”

A spokesman said: “The Olympics are about sport, not politics. We are dismayed
at the insensitivity and disrespect demonstrated by the film makers in their
use of a war memorial as a prop.”

Ian Hansen, of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly, said: “We will not
be bullied by the Argentine government with pieces of cheap propaganda like
this.”

Argentina claims sovereignty over the Falklands, which they call the Malvinas.
But the ad may backfire on Kirchner as many Argentines were critical of it.
One told newspaper La Nacion: “It is a disgrace.”

myView

By SIMON WESTON, Falklands War veteran

CRISTINA Kirchner will go to any lengths and this advert is as low as it gets.

It will achieve nothing other than fuelling an argument. The woman is
dreadful. She is employing PR tactics to fool people who don’t have a clue
about the Falklands.

Her behaviour is symptomatic of how Argentinian leaders behaved 30 years ago
when they sent 30,000 men against a population of just 1,500.

The hockey player doing step-ups on the war memorial is an absolute insult.

No service personnel would ever desecrate a war memorial no matter what nation
they were from. I have been to Argentina and have laid flowers at the
memorials to fallen Argentine soldiers out of respect to their bravery,
sacrifice and courage.

This video is politicising heroic people — who have nothing to do with
Cristina Kirchner.

I hope the Olympic authorities will see this for what it is and take action.

People in the sports world need to stand up and be counted. The Olympic
movement is supposed to stand for fairness and equality.

But Cristina Kirchner is using the Olympics for political gain. She shouldn’t
be allowed to get away with it.